Dual mode printer output spectrophotometer and input document scanning system

ABSTRACT

A color printing system of integrated plural printers with an interconnecting internal sheet path system in which a color imaging bar is positioned to receive, via an alternative internal sheet path, original documents to be electronically imaged from an external sheet feeder in one mode, and to also function in a separate mode as a color spectrophotometer to insure color printing consistency between the respective sheets printed by different color print engines by those sheets being fed to the same color imaging bar location from the various color print engines. That internal imaging bar location may be in or associated with a sheet inverter chute in which the sheets are paused.

Cross-referenced and incorporated by reference [NOT PRIORITY CLAIMED] isa copending TIPP U.S. application Ser. No. 10/761,522 filed Jan. 21,2004 by Barry Mandel, Robert Lofthus, Steven Moore, Martin Krucinski andLisbeth Quesnel, entitled “High Print Rate Merging and Finishing. Systemfor Parallel Printing,” projected to be published Jul. 31, 2005 asU.S.PTO Publication No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. A2423-US-NP).Likewise, cross-referenced and incorporated by reference is an alloweddivisional application thereof, TIPP U.S. application Ser. No.11/002,528 filed Dec. 2, 2004 (Attorney Docket No. A2423-US-DIV1), whichshould issue in approximately the same general time frame.

Also cross-referenced and incorporated by reference [NOT PRIORITYCLAIMED] is copending TIPP U.S. application Ser. No. 11/089,854 filedMar. 25, 2005, entitled “Sheet Registration Within a Media Inverter”(Attorney Docket No. 20040241-US-NP).

Disclosed in the embodiments herein, in an integrated printing system ofcombined plural print engines, is an in-line image sensor array, bar orscanner (these terms are used interchangeably herein) capable ofelectronically capturing the image of an original document, whichscanner is appropriately positioned in the internal paper path of theprinting system to function as a color spectrophotometer (herein broadlya color printing quality sensor) to insure color printing consistencybetween the respective color printed sheets outputs of the respectivedifferent print engines, such as by closed loop color printing qualitycontrol of the respective print engines. Here, the same in-line imagesensor bar is alternatively usable in a second and different mode ofoperation and function by being positioned and provided with an insertor bypass path from an external original documents feeding tray or thelike such that alternatively original documents can be fed to this sameimage sensor array to be digitally image scanned to generate electronicdocuments, which may be printed. That is, this image sensor array isimbedded in the integrated printing system in a position, and with paperpaths, appropriate for both printed copies output quality scanning andinput original documents image scanning with the same image sensorarray.

Of particular background art interest here is Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No.5,884,118 issued Mar. 16, 1999 to Lingappa K. Mestha, et al, entitled“Printer Having Print Output Linked To Scanner Input For Automated ImageQuality Adjustment.” Also of background interest is Xerox Corp. U.S.Pat. No. 5,496,019 issued Mar. 5, 1996 to John R. Yonovich entitled“Dual Function Sheet Feeder,” with two sheet feeding paths from the sameexternal input tray, one to an external imaging station for originaldocuments and another to feed print media sheets to the print engine forprinting.

The disclosed embodiment shows a tightly integrated plural printers orprint engines “TIPP” system. Thus, noted for background andincorporation by reference (as appropriate) (in addition to the aboveco-pending TIPP U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/761,522 and theothers cross-referenced there), as to various plural print engineprinting systems are some examples of what have been variously called“tandem engine” printers, “cluster printing,” “output merger” systems,etc. For example, Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,246 issued Oct. 22,1996 by Paul D. Keller, et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,988 B2 issued Aug.19, 2003 by Brian Conrow entitled “Constant Inverter Speed Timing Methodand Apparatus for Duplex Sheets in a Tandem Printer;” Canon Corp. U.S.Pat. No. 4,587,532; T/R Systems U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,416 by Barry et al;Canon Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,446 by Fujimoto; and Fuji Xerox U.S.Pat. No. 5,208,640. Although a TIPP color printing system is describedin the example below, it will be appreciated that such color printingsystems may also include one or more black and white (black only)printers integrated into the printing system, and the below claims areintended to cover those systems as well.

Also, the disclosed embodiment may utilize existing low costmass-produced commercially available imaging bars. That is, fulldocument width color imaging (image sensor) bars such as those used indocument scanners and/or discussed in the below incorporated citedpatents and elsewhere. Their operation or circuitry need not bere-described herein. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,859,421; 6,166,832;and 6,181,442. Also noted merely by way of further background are XeroxCorp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,297 issued Sep. 15, 1998; U.S. Pat. No.5,543,838 issued Aug. 6, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,653 issued Aug. 27,1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,362 issued Feb. 18, 1997; and U.S. Pat. No.5,519,514 issued May 21, 1996.

One example of the use of such a full width imaging bar for colorspectrophotometer applications for image quality control is Xerox Corp.U.S. Pat. No. 6,621,576 B2 issued Sep. 16, 2003 to Jagdish C. Tandon andLingappa K. Mestha, entitled “Color Imager Bar Based SpectrophotometerFor Color Printer Color Control System.”

A specific feature of the specific embodiment disclosed herein is toprovide an integrated color printing system of combined plural colorprint engines for printing color printed sheets with an interconnectinginternal sheet path system wherein said color printed sheets fromrespective said print engines may be selectively redirected between saidprint engines, wherein said color printing system also has an automaticexternal sheet feeder input for the feeding original document sheets tobe imaged, wherein a color imaging bar capable of electronicallycapturing the image of an original document is positioned at a selectedinternal location in said interconnecting internal sheet path system tofunction in a first mode as a color spectrophotometer to insure colorprinting consistency between the respective color printed sheets printedby said plural color print engines, wherein an additional alternativeinternal sheet path is provided between said automatic external sheetfeeder input for original documents to be imaged and said color imagingbar at said selected internal location in said interconnecting internalsheet path system, wherein said color imaging bar is alternativelyfunctional in a second and different mode of operation of electronicallycapturing the images of said original document sheets fed from saidautomatic external sheet feeder input through said additionalalternative internal sheet path to said color imaging bar at saidselected internal location in said interconnecting internal sheet pathsystem.

Further specific features disclosed in the embodiment herein,individually or in combination, include those wherein said color imagingbar provides an in-line full width array color spectrophotometer forsaid color printed sheets from any of said print engines; and/or whereinsaid color printing system of combined plural color print enginesincludes sheet inverters with sheet inversion chutes in saidinterconnecting internal sheet path system, and wherein said selectedinternal location in said interconnecting internal sheet path system ofsaid color imaging bar is at one of said sheet inversion chutes; and/orwherein said color printing system of combined plural color printengines includes sheet inverters with sheet inversion chutes in saidinterconnecting internal sheet path system in which said printed colorsheets are stationarily paused, wherein said selected internal locationin said interconnecting internal sheet path system of said color imagingbar is at one of said sheet inversion chutes, and wherein said colorimaging bar is movable relative to said color sheets stationarily pausedin said sheet inversion chutes; and/or a color printing method in whichan integrated color printing system of combined plural color printengines prints color printed sheets with an interconnecting internalsheet path system whereby said color printed sheets from respective saidprint engines are selectively redirectable between said print engines,wherein said color printing system also has an automatic external sheetfeeder input for the feeding original document sheets to be imaged,wherein a color imaging bar capable of electronically capturing theimage of an original document is positioned at a selected internallocation in said interconnecting internal sheet path system, wherein anadditional alternative internal sheet path is provided between saidautomatic external sheet feeder input for original documents to beimaged and said color imaging bar at said selected internal location insaid interconnecting internal sheet path system, said color imaging barfunctioning in a first mode as a color spectrophotometer to insure colorprinting consistency between the respective color printed sheets printedby said plural color print engines, said color imaging bar alternativelyfunctioning in a second and different mode of operation ofelectronically capturing the images of said original document sheets fedfrom said automatic external sheet feeder input through said additionalalternative internal sheet path to said color imaging bar at saidselected internal location in said interconnecting internal sheet pathsystem; and/or wherein said color printing system of combined pluralcolor print engines includes sheet inverters with sheet inversion chutesin said interconnecting internal sheet path system in which said printedcolor sheets are stationarily paused, wherein said selected internallocation in said interconnecting internal sheet path system of saidcolor imaging bar is at one of said sheet inversion chutes, and whereinsaid color imaging bar is movable relative to said color sheetsstationarily paused in said sheet inversion chutes.

The disclosed system may be operated and controlled by appropriateoperation of conventional control systems. It is well known andpreferable to program and execute imaging, printing, paper handling, andother control functions and logic with software instructions forconventional or general purpose microprocessors, as taught by numerousprior patents and commercial products. Such programming or software may,of course, vary depending on the particular functions, software type,and microprocessor or other computer system utilized, but will beavailable to, or readily programmable without undue experimentationfrom, functional descriptions, such as those provided herein, and/orprior knowledge of functions which are conventional, together withgeneral knowledge in the software or computer arts. Alternatively, thedisclosed control system or method may be implemented partially or fullyin hardware, using standard logic circuits or single chip VLSI designs.

The term “reproduction apparatus” or “printer” as used herein broadlyencompasses various printers, copiers or multifunction machines orsystems, xerographic or otherwise, unless otherwise defined in a claim.The term “sheet” herein refers to a usually flimsy physical sheet ofpaper, plastic, or other suitable physical substrate for images, whetherprecut or web fed.

As to specific components of the subject apparatus or methods, oralternatives therefor, it will be appreciated that, as is normally thecase, some such components are known per se in other apparatus orapplications, which may be additionally or alternatively used herein,including those from art cited herein. For example, it will beappreciated by respective engineers and others that many of theparticular component mountings, component actuations, or component drivesystems illustrated herein are merely exemplary, and that the same novelmotions and functions can be provided by many other known or readilyavailable alternatives. All cited references, and their references, areincorporated by reference herein where appropriate for teachings ofadditional or alternative details, features, and/or technicalbackground. What is well known to those skilled in the art need not bedescribed herein.

Various of the above-mentioned and further features and advantages willbe apparent to those skilled in the art from the specific apparatus andits operation or methods described in the example(s) below, and theclaims. Thus, they will be better understood from this description ofthese specific embodiment(s), including the drawing figures (which areapproximately to scale) wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic frontal view of a six IOT version of a TIPP systemmodified as described herein, and

FIG. 2 is a partial, two IOT, version of the FIG. 1 TIPP system modifiedas described herein.

Describing now in further detail the exemplary embodiments withreference to the Figures, there is shown one example of a TIPP system10. Such TIPP systems have plural or multiple integrated electronicprinters, such as the six print engines 12A through 12F of FIG. 1, orthe two print engines 12A and 12B thereof of FIG. 2, (otherwise known asimage output terminals or IOTs), each of which can have varying imagequality (IQ) performance. The printed output sheets from all or severalof these integrated IOTs are typically compiled together into commonmulti-page documents or booklets via an integrated paper path system asillustrated by the arrows here. This IQ consistency and performance,especially of facing pages within the same printed booklet, can bevisually significant to the customer. A presently suggested solution isto have the customer print certain test patterns on sheets printed fromall IOTs, then place them in a document handler for scanning, at whichpoint the TIPP system may make automatic xerographic parameteradjustments to align the respective IQ's of the respective IOTs.

In the present embodiment an image sensor array, bar or scanner 100 ismounted inside the machine, preferably directly below a sheets inverter(and optional re-registration) subsystem 50, allowing for a sheet to bescanned there while the sheet is temporarily stopped in theinverter/registration system, or at another such suitable location. Theinformation from this sheet scan may be used to calibrate and modify therespective IOT marking parameters to ensure that the IQ is consistentbetween IOTs. In a TIPP system as disclosed herein, which has aselective paper path system which allows sheets from almost any area tobe sent to almost any other area, only one such image scanner 100 isneeded. The scanner 100 can be mounted to move to scan an originaldocument, a test sheet, or a system 10 printed sheet, while that sheetis stationary in the inverter chute of the inverter subsystem 50, or bemounted stationary to scan the sheet as the sheet is moving in or out ofthe subsystem 50, or other appropriate sheet path position internally ofthe system 10.

Here, In addition, an external to internal bypass type documenttransport path 60 to this same image scanner 100 is provided in place ofa traditional external document handler, scanner and platen glass (as inthe above-cited U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,118 issued to Lingappa K. Mestha, etal) to allow original documents to be fed in from an input tray 70 andscanned by this same scanner 100 (and then sent to an output tray 80 forretrieval).

The exemplary TIPP system 10 here shows such integrated sheet pathtransports between the exemplary IOTs 12A-12F, which here are modularlystacked in towers of two IOT's each, as in FIG. 2. The print media paperinput source 90 and its sheet feeder(s) is shown on the left. The sheetcan be sent to any location in the path and returned to any location viaplural return highway transports and plural inverters, as shown, beforeoutputting at 92 to a stacking tray system or finisher. These invertersubsystems, such as 50, may contain integral sheet re-registrationsystems to remove sheet skew or other registration errors.

The disclosed embodiment eliminates any requirement for a customer tohave to manually run an IQ calibration routine for the system 10. Anytest calibration sheet can be periodically automatically fed from asheet input tray 70 (instead of a normal document) through the same path60 to the same inverter subsystem 50 and scanned there by this samescanner 100 to generate quality and/or color consistency test patternsto be printed on copies of that test sheet by all of the IOTs, and thosetest prints can then be automatically fed to, and compared by, the samescanner 100. This can be done at any time, especially when the system 10is not in printing use. This can keep the prints much more consistentbetween IOTs by running the IQ routine on a more regular basis,effectively closing the loop on the IQ process.

Using the feed tray 70, bypass transport path 60, and scanner 100 incombination to image-scan original documents desirably eliminates theneed for an external scanner with a document handler and platen glass toprovide single system or multi-function document copying capability.Original documents to be copied may be scanned and sent to the output 92for customer retrieval, while test documents scanned for calibrationpurposes can be stored in a conventional external or internal purge binor tray within an IOT, or otherwise, and emptied at a convenient time bythe customer. Such as a conventional purge bin or tray used for purgingsheets from an incomplete or misprinted print job due to an unexpectedshutdown from a sheet jam or otherwise.

Sheet inverters, and their sheet inversion chutes in which sheets arestationarily paused before their movement reversal and exit therefrom,are of course well known to those of ordinary skill in the paper pathand sheet handling art of printers and need not be described in detailherein. Particularly noted is the above-cited TIPP U.S. application Ser.No. 11/089,854 filed Mar. 25, 2005 on an integral sheet inverter andsheet deskew and registration system.

The claims, as originally presented and as they may be amended,encompass variations, alternatives, modifications, improvements,equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the embodiments andteachings disclosed herein, including those that are presentlyunforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example, may arise fromapplicants/patentees and others.

1. An integrated color printing system of combined plural color printengines for printing color printed sheets with an interconnectinginternal sheet path system wherein said color printed sheets fromrespective said print engines may be selectively redirected between saidprint engines, wherein said color printing system also has an automaticexternal sheet feeder input for the feeding original document sheets tobe imaged, wherein a color imaging bar capable of electronicallycapturing the image of an original document is positioned at a selectedinternal location in said interconnecting internal sheet path system tofunction in a first mode as a color spectrophotometer to insure colorprinting consistency between the respective color printed sheets printedby said plural color print engines, wherein an additional alternativeinternal sheet path is provided between said automatic external sheetfeeder input for original documents to be imaged and said color imagingbar at said selected internal location in said interconnecting internalsheet path system, wherein said color imaging bar is alternativelyfunctional in a second and different mode of operation of electronicallycapturing the images of said original document sheets fed from saidautomatic external sheet feeder input through said additionalalternative internal sheet path to said color imaging bar at saidselected internal location in said interconnecting internal sheet pathsystem.
 2. The integrated color printing system of claim 1, wherein saidcolor imaging bar provides an in-line full width array colorspectrophotometer for said color printed sheets from any of said printengines.
 3. The integrated color printing system of claim 1, whereinsaid color printing system of combined plural color print enginesincludes sheet inverters with sheet inversion chutes in saidinterconnecting internal sheet path system, and wherein said selectedinternal location in said interconnecting internal sheet path system ofsaid color imaging bar is at one of said sheet inversion chutes.
 4. Theintegrated color printing system of claim 1, wherein said color printingsystem of combined plural color print engines includes sheet inverterswith sheet inversion chutes in said interconnecting internal sheet pathsystem in which said printed color sheets are stationarily paused,wherein said selected internal location in said interconnecting internalsheet path system of said color imaging bar is at one of said sheetinversion chutes, and wherein said color imaging bar is movable relativeto said color sheets stationarily paused in said sheet inversion chutes.5. A color printing method in which an integrated color printing systemof combined plural color print engines prints color printed sheets withan interconnecting internal sheet path system whereby said color printedsheets from respective said print engines are selectively redirectablebetween said print engines, wherein said color printing system also hasan automatic external sheet feeder input for the feeding originaldocument sheets to be imaged, wherein a color imaging bar capable ofelectronically capturing the image of an original document is positionedat a selected internal location in said interconnecting internal sheetpath system, wherein an additional alternative internal sheet path isprovided between said automatic external sheet feeder input for originaldocuments to be imaged and said color imaging bar at said selectedinternal location in said interconnecting internal sheet path system,said color imaging bar functioning in a first mode as a colorspectrophotometer to insure color printing consistency between therespective color printed sheets printed by said plural color printengines, said color imaging bar alternatively functioning in a secondand different mode of operation of electronically capturing the imagesof said original document sheets fed from said automatic external sheetfeeder input through said additional alternative internal sheet path tosaid color imaging bar at said selected internal location in saidinterconnecting internal sheet path system.
 6. The color printing methodof claim 5, wherein said color printing system of combined plural colorprint engines includes sheet inverters with sheet inversion chutes insaid interconnecting internal sheet path system in which said printedcolor sheets are stationarily paused, wherein said selected internallocation in said interconnecting internal sheet path system of saidcolor imaging bar is at one of said sheet inversion chutes, and whereinsaid color imaging bar is movable relative to said color sheetsstationarily paused in said sheet inversion chutes.